Spreading Our Wings
by retrophile
Summary: A beautiful girl shrouded in mystery, even to her friends, the Marauders. What will happen when they discover her dark past? And above that, how is James Potter ever going to get Lily Evans to fall for him? MILD OC/OC, SB/OC, JP/LE, RL/OC; please R
1. Prologue: The Nightmare

**Disclaimer: I only own the characters and settings you don't recognize. 'Kay thanks.**

**Prologue: The Nightmare**

_"Come on, Rem!" Kathleen laughed, the full moon shining bright above them. The young girl ran towards the edge of the woods. Her bare feet stirred the dirt, covering her toes in brown. She twirled dramatically, her long peasant skirt flaring out as she did so._

_"Coming, Kath," Remus responded, stumbling down the porch stairs. "Are you sure Tante Alayna won't mind we've left the house?" He zipped his jacket up to avoid letting the cool autumn air hit his arms. _

_"She won't!" she assured him, despite the fact her mother would have her head if she knew that the pair was out so late. "Ever been in the woods at night?" she asked, childishly changing the subject. She kicked a few fallen leaves, enjoying the crunching sound they made. _

_Remus didn't answer, but he ran to join his cousin where she was flirting with the danger of going into the forest. Together, they began to venture deep into the woods, where the moonlight hardly penetrated through the thick canopy of leaves._

_"What're we doing in here again?" Remus asked slowly. The sudden darkness was slowly turning from neat to creepy._

_Before Kathleen got a chance to answer, there was a low, angry growl from somewhere close to them. "D-don't do that, Remus," she stuttered. "We're here to explore, not be mean!" Fear, rather than anger, showed vividly on her face despite the lack of light. _

_"That wasn't me," Remus whispered, also looking terrified. They heard the growl again, sounding closer than before. Kathleen quickly grabbed Remus' hand, her pointed little nails digging into his palm. _

_Just then, a huge, wolf-like creature sprang from the bushes. It sprang towards them, looking for exposed skin to sink its sharp, dripping yellow fangs into._

_The pair stood completely still, in shock for a moment before their legs started working. They sprinted desperately towards the house, though they were nowhere near the entrance of the forest._

_Clumsily, Kathleen tripped over an exposed tree root, falling hard to the ground. Remus, noting the absence of hurried strides beside him, turned around and saw the massive creature approaching his cousin. "Kathleen!" he cried in horror, running back to her._

_Tasting blood in her mouth, she tried to scramble up the tree she'd found herself against, but was not fast enough. The werewolf was beside her, breathing deeply. Its menacing, glowing yellow eyes held a sense of contentment as the pair of jaws closed on her. She screamed. Then, everything went black._

Kathleen woke up in a cold sweat; her breathing hurried, hair disheveled, sheets tangled around her, uncertain as to why she'd just relived that night in her sleep. Usually she dreamt cheerful fluffy scenarios in her first language, French.

Still able to see the events clearly in her head, she tried to recall what had happened next. After passing out, she remembered awaking in St. Mungo's beside Remus. She wasn't sure who had found them, or how long they'd lain unconscious in the forest.

She closed her long-lashed eyes and took a deep breath, giving herself a moment to collect her thoughts. Carefully, she touched the scar on her left shoulder. Telling herself the nightmare was because she was nervous about the start of sixth year tomorrow, she struggled to fall back asleep.

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**A/N: Sorry this is so short, but it's only a prologue.  
****Also, since our main character is bilingual, any French will be translated in parentheses****. Please review!**


	2. Back at Hogwarts

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Back at Hogwarts

Kathleen Dove and her family lived in Dove Hall, a large and luxurious ancient manor, located in France. It had many spare rooms and lush furnishings, and a special 'moon room' with a steel door and extra strength magical locks. At the turn of the century, the Doves had been an extremely wealthy and influential Muggle family, but they had made a few bad investments and lost almost everything, except for the huge mansion and another in America, both of which were in turn passed down as the years went by.

As they always did, the Lupins had stayed with the Doves in Dove Hall the previous night so that the families could travel to King's Cross together.

Sunlight streamed through Kathleen's windows, gently stirring her. Still a little drowsy, she realized what had woken her: her door, which she always kept closed at night, was open. She yawned and looked around her room. Suddenly, someone jumped from the carpet onto her bed, causing her to shriek and curse loudly in French.

Her cousin, Remus, smirked at her. Remus had tidy light brown hair and shining, ocean blue eyes. He was a bit on the short side, though he was taller than Kathleen, and was rather scrawny-looking. "That was for last year," he said simply as he hopped to the floor.

"Hey," she warned. "If you wanna be like that, I could take it again."

"That's quite alright," Remus assured, shuddering at the memory of last summer, when he'd woken without a certain, err, _part_.

Already forgiving him, Kathleen sat up and stretched. "What time is it?" she asked through a yawn.

"Five minutes after 10."

"_Merde_ (shit)! We're gonna be late if we don't hurry! I gotta get ready."

He left the room, presumably going downstairs. With Remus gone, Kathleen got out of bed and walked to full-length mirror, where she turned around to get a look at her scars. She was lucky; most of them were on her back and upper arms, both easily concealable, as opposed to Remus, who had a few on his face and some on his chest. "Nah, they don't look too bad," she muttered to herself.

Excluding the scars, Kathleen was happy with the way she looked. Her teeth were even and dazzling white and her smile was charming, if slightly wolfish. She had long, wavy chocolate brown hair that fell to her shoulder blades. Her alluring celery green eyes were accented by long eyelashes. Her exceptionally beautiful elf-like features were accompanied by soft, smooth milky skin and slightly chapped pink lips; she needed no makeup to look pretty. She was in shape from doing yoga every morning and ballet during the summer, though her figure was still curvy in the right places. She was also quite short, a trait she'd acquired from her mother.

She ran a finger along the most obvious scar, which was on her left shoulder from when she'd first been bitten. She bit her lip as she recalled how most of those wounds had happened. Trying to push all the negative thoughts the marks brought out of her mind, she took a shower and dried her hair, then grabbed the Muggle clothing she'd set out the night before.

She dressed quickly in a pair of bellbottom jeans and a tie-dyed shirt, as well as a pair of faux-leather sandals.

She walked over to her side table, where an old but still exquisite looking ruby ring gleamed. The ring itself was made of gold which formed a sort of frame with small diamond accents around the red stone. She slipped it delicately on her right ring finger, where it fit as though it was made for her. Kathleen had inherited the ring years ago, and never went anywhere except to sleep without it.

_"Kathleen, ma chère fille, tu es s'habiller? _(Kathleen, my dear daughter, are you dressed?)"a woman's voice called from downstairs.

"_Oui, maman! Je vais venir en bas dans une seconde!_ (Yes, Maman! I'll be down in a second!)"

She smiled at her lovely reflection and descended the stairs, went down a hallway and took a right to the living room. Sounds of giggling and gossip filled the room. The sources of the noise were identical twins Alayna Dove and Ambre Lupin, and they were laughing like they had when they were teenagers. Their bright ocean blue eyes seemed to light up as they talked in fast-paced French. Identical long shiny locks of golden blonde hair fell down their backs, and they were very petite, a trait they both seemed to have passed to their children. The sisters hadn't seen each other or been able to talk almost all summer because the Doves had been to Italy for three weeks and the Lupins had traveled to America. Remus was sitting on the couch, looking rather bored as he flipped through a magazine.

"Morning Mum, Tante Ambre," Kathleen chirped happily.

"Good morning, Kathleen," Tante Ambre smiled, managing a bit of horribly accented English.

"Good morning, dear. You all packed?" her mother asked, her English about as good as her sister's.

"Yes, of course."

She was about to collect her things when there was a loud crashing from the other room. A man with tangled brown hair and the same celery green eyes as Kathleen stepped out of the kitchen, covered in white flour. His name was Brian Dove, and he had a huge smile on his face as he brushed the flour from his hands. He was tall and thin, and his handsome, elf-like features bore an incredible resemblance to his daughter. "My apologies relatives, it seems that the flour bag hit my cranium and burst," he explained sheepishly.

"Morning Dad," Kathleen said brightly, not seeing the flour as anything unusual. In truth, her father was very eccentric, and he was also very clumsy. Things like that tended to happen quite often.

"Salutations, Moon-kissed," Brian replied affectionately, using the nickname he'd given her when she was five. "Are you two prepared to go?" he asked, addressing both his daughter and nephew this time.

Kathleen and Remus nodded.

"Superb, then just go get your things and we shall depart." He had managed to get all the flour off him already.

Remus and Kathleen gathered their things from the guestroom, and soon the Doves and the Lupins were standing on Platform 9 ¾

Alayna and Ambre looked slightly teary-eyed as they told their children what kind of snacks they'd put in their bags. "Bye Mum," Kathleen wheezed as her mother squeezed her in a surprisingly strong hug.

While Ambre continued reminding Remus of various things, half of which he never forgot to do and half of which he didn't _need_ to do, Kathleen turned to her father.

"Farewell Kathleen," Brian began fondly. "Make well-informed decisions this year, and don't forget to contact us often." He smiled proudly and hugged her.

"I won't, Dad. Have a good year, I'll see you at Christmas." Although she hated to admit it, she was 'daddy's little girl' at heart, and she always missed him more than her mother. She didn't like to upset him, which is why it was probably a good thing her father thought rules were confining.

After all the goodbyes, Ambre, Alayna, and Brian Disapparated back to Dove Hall.

"Hey Moony, Lunar!" someone called. Behind them stood Sirius Black, who was casually leaning against his school trunk. His long dark fringe fell gracefully into his stormy grey eyes. He was quite tall and very handsome.

"Hey Sirius," Remus grinned.

"Hey Padfoot," Kathleen said happily, standing on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. "How was your summer?"

"Well, I decided that I'd had enough of my parents' pure-blood mania, so I ran away to live with Prongs."

"I'm so proud of you, Sirius! Way to make a stand," Kathleen beamed. "Where is James anyway?"

"He and Peter are saving us a compartment. I said I'd wait 'till you two got here."

"So what'd your parents do when they found out?" Remus asked with curiosity.

"They probably blasted my name off the family tree," laughed Sirius. "As if I even wanted to be on the wretched thing."

"Yeah," Kathleen agreed. "That's kind of like how my mum and Tante Amb- oomph"

Her sentence was cut off when her ball of energy of a friend, Audrey Jacobson, nearly tackled her. Audrey dyed her hair unnatural colors like blue, and changed it so often that no one, including herself, could remember what color it had originally been. Today she was sporting loud, Gryffindor-y streaks of red and gold.

"Audrey!" Kathleen shrieked, her voice rising girlishly. "I love your hair!"

"Thanks Kath!" Audrey gushed in the same girlish squeak.

"Would you like some help with your trunk, Audrey?" Remus questioned, a faint pink coloring his cheeks.

Audrey went red and giggled. She nodded wordlessly.

Remus sent her a smile as he disappeared in the Hogwarts Express with his trunk and hers, followed by Sirius, who rolled his eyes but took Kathleen's trunk with his nonetheless.

Kathleen squealed. "He _so_ likes you Auds!"

Audrey turned even redder. "No, that's just Remus," she insisted. "He's always polite."

"Yeah, ok Auds, whatever you say."

Audrey, obviously wanting to change the subject, asked, "So how was Italy?"

"Great!" Kathleen answered. "And where'd you go over break?"

The pair, now talking about their summers in detail, got on the train and headed for the back, where Peter, James, and Sirius were sitting.

"Where'd Remus go?" Audrey asked, visibly disappointed.

"He's in the prefect's carriage, Jacobson," James said simply. "Along with Evans," he added with longing.

"Hey Lunar," Peter squeaked when he saw Kathleen.

"'Ello Wormtail, Prongs."

Everyone sat and discussed various things and ate junk food James bought. When they were nearly to Hogsmeade Station, Kathleen and Audrey went to the bathroom and changed into their uniforms while the boys changed in their compartment.

When they were all off the train, and had found Remus, (Lily, though friends with Audrey and Kathleen had refused to sit with the Marauders; she'd met up with Mary MacDonald instead) they got a carriage.

Skeletal horses with leathery wings and shining white eyes stood in front of both Audrey and Kathleen, while the boys only saw their harness. Though Kathleen made an extreme effort to ignore them and got in without a second glance towards the creature, Audrey patted the Thestral before entering the carriage.

Remus scooted over and Audrey swiftly took the empty seat next to him. He was apparently the only one that noticed what she'd done.

"Audrey," Remus began cautiously, "can you see the-"

"Yes," Audrey answered. "When I was eight, I was visiting my very sick grandfather in the hospital; he was a Muggle you see, and he went into heart failure and died in front of me."

Kathleen was glad no one noticed she could see the Thestrals as well. Remus, naturally, knew, but she wasn't sure the other Marauders did, and she hated recalling the rather dark story.

"We're finally sixth-years, eh Lunar?" Sirius said.

"What? Oh, yeah, yeah. Sixth-years..." Kathleen answered distractedly. Coming out of her stupor, she grinned at him. "Since we're back at Hogwarts, we'll need to pull a start-of-term prank."

"Of course we will, Kath. No sense breaking tradition."

The pair shared matching, mischievous grins until they arrived back at the castle.

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**A/N: Thanks to **TheNightimeSky **for reviewing! Please review if you're reading and don't forget that anything in French will be translated in parentheses.**


	3. Watch Her Leave

****

Watch Her Leave

Late that night, Sirius' dreams were interrupted by his rumbling stomach, which he attributed to the fact that he had been busy planning the prank with Kathleen during the feast instead of eating as much as he normally would've. Deciding a quick trip to the kitchens was in order, he quietly opened James' trunk and grabbed his Invisibility Cloak, draping it over his shoulders and swearing he'd put it back after he returned. He crept down the stairs to the common room, and was surprised to see he wasn't the only one awake. There was someone sitting on the large, squashy couch in front of the fireplace, her face hidden by her long, dark hair. Her chin was resting on her knees, and she didn't appear to be doing anything of interest, just staring blankly into the slowly dieing flames.

Sirius decided not to bother her and headed for the portrait. He bumped painfully into one of the oak tables in his tiredness and caused a loud noise to erupt through the room

"Who's there?" the girl demanded, turning to look for the source of the noise. Now that she was facing him, Sirius could see that her face was red and blotchy from crying, but what really shocked him was that the girl was Kathleen.

He whisked off the cloak and walked towards her. "Kathleen, what's wrong?" he asked gently, forgetting the reason he'd gotten up in the first place. He sat beside her on the couch, looking at her with genuine concern.

"Oh, S- sirius," Kathleen said with surprise, her voice sounding constricted. She ignored his question, instead sniffed quietly and looked down at something on her right hand.

"What's wrong?" he asked again.

"N- nothing," she whimpered without looking at him. Suddenly unable to control herself any longer, Kathleen burst into another set of tears and hid her face. Sirius stayed quiet, watching her usually strong exterior crumble before his eyes. "I'm sorry," she muttered after she'd calmed down a bit. "You- You go wherever you were go- going" She absently pulled at a loose thread in her pajama pants.

Sirius remained where he was. "I'm not hungry anymore."

"It was my fault," she said suddenly after a bit of silence, appearing to speak only to herself. "I could've stopped him."

"What was your fault?"

Kathleen once again ignored him, twisting the ring she was wearing. "Sirius, have you never once wondered why- _why _I'm always so _distant_ on the carriages?"

Sirius didn't know how to answer. He'd always thought she was just excited to come back to school, but when he voiced these thoughts, Kathleen shook her head.

"No, Sirius." She sighed. "It's because of the Thestrals; they bring back the worst memory I have."

"What are-"

"They pull the school carriages, they're these vast bony horses, and you can only see them if you've seen death."

Sirius' jaw dropped.

"She should never have married him." She was talking to herself again, about who Sirius wasn't sure. She seemed to realize this and looked up at him. "Do you have any Essence of Dreamless Sleep?" she asked quietly, wiping her eyes. "I keep reliving it; it's even more horrible every time."

"I think Remus has some," Sirius answered, fighting the urge to ask what she was talking about. He went upstairs and got the requested potion, and gave it to the distraught girl, who took it and held the bottle with care.

"I bet you're wondering who I saw die, right?" Sirius gave a slight nod, trying not to upset her more.

"My Aunt Kathy, she - well, to tell the truth, I didn't see death. I saw murder." There was a heavy silence. "_Oh là là_, I'm going to bed," And with that, she took the pale-colored liquid upstairs, leaving Sirius more than a little worried about her.

The next morning at breakfast, the sixth-years received their schedules, though a few who had failed OWLs or had other changes in their classes were told that they would be meeting with their Head of House. Kathleen didn't need to worry about that since she'd earned ten OWLs, but she laughed quietly to herself as Peter was called up.

"What are you taking, Kath?" Remus asked, looking over his timetable to meet his cousin's eyes.

"Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination."

"Divination? That's not even _real_," scoffed Remus.

"_Unless_," Kathleen said importantly, "You have the Inner Eye. And I do."

Remus rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'Yeah right.'

Sirius interrupted the quiet fight by grabbing Kathleen's schedule. "Let me see that, Kath," he said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs, despite the fact he was already holding it. He compared his and Kathleen's agendas. "Excellent, we have everything together."

Kathleen read over his shoulder. "Why are _you_ taking Divination, mate? You barely passed last year."

"But I did pass," Sirius retaliated lamely.

"Whatever," she laughed, taking back the timetable and handing it to Audrey.

"Oh, we've only got Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology together," Audrey sighed. "But at least I have Lily in the rest."

A tall, stick-thin girl with dark hair walked past the table, causing Sirius to do a double-take. Almost without thinking, he followed her out of the Great Hall.

When the bell rang, Kathleen walked into the Entrance Hall, where Sirius and the girl were still talking – or rather, Sirius was talking and she was giggling uncontrollably – by the hourglasses. Kathleen decided this would be a perfect time to test out her new game, Watch Her Leave.

She approached the pair, mischief flashing in her eyes. "Padfoot, I got that rash cream you wanted," she told him in a voice just loud enough for the dark-haired girl to hear. She gave Sirius a look of disgust and walked away.

"I- I don't have a rash!" he yelled after the girl. Then he turned to face his friend. "What was that?"

Kathleen smirked. "It's my new favorite game, Watch Her Leave. Fun, no?"

"No, not really."

"Well, I think it is."

Sirius ran a hand through his silky hair. "She was a slut anyway. I don't want some girl who just throws herself at me."

Kathleen raised an eyebrow. "What? Since when?"

"I dunno, just a change of heart, I guess. Come on, let's get to class, or we'll be late."

Kathleen almost fainted in shock, and had to run to catch up with him. They were the only Gryffindors who took Divination, and together, they climbed up to the North Tower and entered the silent classroom. They sat down at one of the round tables when a lone Ravenclaw girl came in. She had light blonde hair and pale skin, and bright blue eyes. "Excuse me," she said politely to the two friends. "I'm Grace, Grace Voss. None of my friends or housemates are taking Divination this year, so can I sit with you?"

"Sure!" said Kathleen, kicking Sirius under the table as he was about to protest. "I'm Kathleen Dove, and this is Sirius Black."

Grace sat down beside Kathleen, and it seemed everyone entered the room at once. All the trio's classmates appeared to be Hufflepuffs, and for the most part, ignored that either Gryffindor or the Ravenclaw was there. In a flurry of purple robes, plump Professor Verity Profeta rushed in.

"Sorry I'm late, class," she apologized. "And welcome to Divination. The future is not easy to predict; it's not going to jump up and bite you on the nose. Sometimes, it does not choose to reveal itself at all." She let that sink in for a moment, tucking a strand of curly red hair back in her bun. She continued to give her usual long speech, until there where only five minutes left in class. "I thought we should start off the year with tarot cards," she said finally, holding up a deck of cards. She proceeded to give a brief review of how to read the cards, and then magically dispensed the cards to the tables.

"What are we supposed to be doing? I wasn't paying attention."

"Sirius!" Kathleen groaned as she shuffled her cards. "_This_ is exactly why you nearly failed your OWL. Just watch me." She placed the cards down with the air of someone who knew exactly what they were doing. Grace even stopped her shuffling to watch Kathleen as well. "Well, we're reading these for the entire year," she began. "You see how the cards are laid out in a diamond shape, like this? This is called the Celestial Circle Spread, and the twelve cards forming the diamond stand for the different months. Do you understand?" Sirius nodded, urging her to continue. "You flip this one over first. It symbolizes the current month; the next one will be October, and so on. The one in the center, you flip that last, it represents the outlook for the entire year. It's usually judged solely on whether it's positive or negative, upside down or right side up, not the actual card."

The bell rang before she could flip them over and read the results, however, so she left the future to Professor Profeta.

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**Ah, some of the secrets have started to spill.  
Please review! Thanks once again to **TheNightimeSky** and **JadeGirlMarauder** for doing just that.**


	4. Predictions & Harlots

**Predictions & Harlots**

Professor Profeta watched the last of the sixth-years disappear down through the trapdoor, smiling at the last two students, who were holding hands and just couldn't stop looking at each other. Glancing around, she realized the class had left all the cards laying about, scattered around the tables or otherwise ignored. The third-years would be coming in for their first class of Divination after lunch, and she wanted the room to look good, so she started cleaning up the tarot cards the last class had not. She came upon a table where there were cards spread into a diamond shape, unread, though something felt strange around them. She considered it for a moment before sitting down in front of the cards. "Ok, Spirits. If I should not read these cards, give me a sign, a signal." Nothing happened, and though the professor still had the odd feeling of foreboding, she trusted the Spirits, and had for forty-some odd years. Taking a deep breath, she tentatively lifted the first card and she began to smile; it wasn't bad. She continued around the diamond, her smile slowly fading into an uncertain frown, as she pieced the cards' predictions together. She flipped the last card and the words escaped her lips in hardly a whisper: "_Oh no._"

Meanwhile, Sirius, Kathleen, and Remus were on the third floor, walking down the corridor to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"I'm telling you guys, I heard the new teacher was once a frog!" Sirius was saying enthusiastically. "There was this little man with a really peculiar name and he cast a spell on her because she couldn't guess what his name was, and then she had to obey everything anybody said, and then this crazed witch told her to turn into a frog because she ate her gingerbread house, so she did, and then..."

"Her prince came along and rescued her," Kathleen finished dully.

Sirius pouted. "You ruined my story!"

"I knew I should never have bought you that book of Muggle fairytales," Kathleen laughed, looking up at him. Just as her attention was elsewhere, someone stepped in front of her, causing her to have to halt abruptly to avoid bumping into the newcomer. The girl standing in front of her was a sixth-year Gryffindor. She was tall and rather unfortunate looking, with so much makeup on that she looked like she was made of plastic, and hair that was an ugly shade of strawberry blonde. Her shirt was left unbuttoned so that her bra was visible, her skirt was hiked up so high it left almost nothing to the imagination, and her robes had been hemmed the same length. Several fifth and fourth-year girls behind her were dressed and made-up similarly, though they looked a bit more tasteful.

"Hey Sirius, hey Remus," she gushed, smiling widely and showing all her teeth.

"Hello Claire," said Remus politely, though Sirius ignored her.

Her eyes fell on Kathleen, and she crossed her arms. "Dove," she spat with distaste, looking down at the short witch as if she were scum.

"Acerbi," returned Kathleen in a similar tone, raising an eyebrow and placing her hands firmly on her hips. "So are you going to fail everything again this year because you're too busy staring at Sirius?" A member of the group sniggered, quickly turning it into a cough when she Claire glared daggers at her.

Claire turned back to Kathleen and fake laughed before rolling her overly darkened eyes. "Very amusing, Dove, but I'm not even in his classes this year, so your joke didn't work." She smiled at her 'cleverness' and tossed her hair behind her back before adding, "I'm only even talking to you because I know it was you who put black hair dye in my shampoo at the end of last year."

"Very good, Claire. Did Mummy have to help you with that, or did you figure it out all on your own?" asked Kathleen in a baby voice. "And yes, it's an _honor_ to be graced by the presence of the great Claire Acerbi, I just..." Here Kathleen paused to fake tearing up. "Thank you so much!" she said, feigning her voice cracking. At this, Sirius and Remus snorted with laughter. "I thought your hair looked better like that, honestly," Kathleen continued in her normal voice. "Now it looks like someone glued pink straw on your head."

"I'm just telling you, Dove. It took me all summer to get my _beautiful _hair back to its natural color, so watch your back."

"Maybe you should spend less time on yours," Kathleen retorted.

Claire's jaw dropped, unable to think of a response, staring at Kathleen in shock.

"Kath!" Remus exclaimed, using his 'I-am-a-prefect-and-will-not-condone-that-sort-of-behavior' voice. "Five points from Gryffindor for...uh, being cruel."

Claire smirked. "See what you get, Dove? You just lost our House points on the first day." She didn't appear bothered by this though, and she and her groupies walked away looking satisfied.

"Fifteen points because that was wicked ace," Remus added when Acerbi was out of earshot. The cousins did a strange handshake and all three students continued on their way to DADA.

"I've wanted to use that one forever, and she was finally stupid enough to give me the opportunity, so I went for it," Kathleen laughed as they entered the room.

"Sit wherever you want," the new professor said from her desk. Kathleen sat in-between Remus and Sirius at a table near the back and waited for the lesson to begin. "Hello class, I am Professor Newman. Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. This year, we will be learning more complicated defense tactics than last year, and-" She paused as the door opened. A dark-haired bloke strolled in, looking unconcerned that he was late. Kathleen thought he looked kind of familiar.

"Sorry I'm late, but I was napping in the Staff Room and lost track of time," he told the angry-looking professor nonchalantly.

"Benjamin Daniel Newman," she growled in a low voice which everyone could still hear. She sighed and announced, "Due to an unforeseen conflict I will only be able to stay here for one year, so my _irresponsible_ son here will be taking over. He's also going to be assisting me so he has enough experience to teach."

"You guys can call me Professor Ben," he said with a smile. When he spoke, Kathleen suddenly realized why Ben looked so familiar; he had only graduated two years before.

"_Is that Big Ben, the Head Boy from fourth year?_" whispered Sirius.

Kathleen smirked. "_I think it is, Padfoot. He's lost quite a bit of weight!_"

Ben glared in the direction of the pair, though he didn't say anything, so he must not have actually heard what they had said.

Kathleen smiled innocently at him, and he continued the lesson.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and by that night, the group was up in the boys' dormitory devising their prank, which had so far gone nowhere.

"It has to be big," Kathleen declared. "I mean, usually we just curse a bunch of Slytherins, and it's not that they don't deserve it, but we only have two years left. Why not go out with a bang?"

"I agree," said Remus. "But what are we going to do?"

"James, is it possible to charm an area to trigger a Transfiguration?" She shifted from her comfortable upside down position on Sirius' bed to sit up and look at the bespectacled boy.

"I don't know. You're supposed to be Miss Charming McCharming-ton around here. I'm fairly certain that it is, though. "

"It is," Remus confirmed after a few minutes of searching _Advanced Magic for Joking around: a Prankster's Guide _by April Luck.

"Great, I think I've got something."

* * *

**Sorry this took so long! And sorry it's short! I may get another one out today, but I dunno... maybe if you review?  
Thanks to **TheNightimeSky**, who is kind enough to review every chapter!**


	5. Breakfast Pranking

**Breakfast Pranking**

The halls were almost entirely empty when Kathleen and Audrey walked down to breakfast early the next morning, the boys trailing along behind them.

"So," Audrey whispered. "What'dyado, what'dyado, what'dyado, what'dyado?"

"What?"

"_What did you do?!_ You know; the rank-pay?"

Kathleen let out a groan. "I've _told _you, we never tell. We just don't. Right boys?"

"Sure, whatever," replied the guys sleepily.

Audrey sighed and followed as Kathleen entered the Great Hall, staying near the wall. "Audrey!" Kathleen exclaimed suddenly, causing Audrey to freeze where she was. "I almost forgot! The spell recognizes me, but you need to spin around while singing '_Frère Jacques_' then curtsey if you don't want it to affect you."

"Er, are you sure?"

"Positive," Kathleen said brightly. Reluctantly, Audrey began spinning and singing. "_Frère Jaques, Frère Jaques, dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?..."_

"Sonnez les matines," provided Kathleen as she tried to hide her smile.

"_Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! __Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don._" She finished singing/spinning and curtseyed.

"_Bon (Good). _Let's-" Kathleen burst into giggles. "Let's eat," she managed.

"What's so funny?" asked Audrey as they sat down.

Kathleen couldn't hold it back anymore and was full out guffawing. "You – just... you are _so _gullible!"

"You mean... I didn't have to spin?"

"No!"

"Ugh!"

Just then Kathleen spotted someone coming down the hall, their face buried in a book. "Perfect."

"Very perfect," said Sirius, who had just sat beside her. "That's Snivellus; see the grease reflecting off his hair?"

"Ah, how could I have missed that?" Kathleen grinned and watched with pleasure as Snape walked over the cursed stones. There was a flash, and instead of Snape, there was a purple penguin waddling nervously, his book on the lying useless on the ground.

"He'll change back in an hour," Kathleen told Audrey.

Finally, the students began to pour in. A few stayed to the sides, but most went to the middle and were transformed into purple penguins, waddling around aimlessly. There was uproarious laughter from the unaffected students, and even Dumbledore looked like he was trying not to laugh.

Though McGonagall was whispering rather frantically to the headmaster, no one was accused of anything. In fact, all day, the group did not get in trouble.

"I think we should have a party to celebrate not getting caught," Kathleen said to Sirius in Potions class as she added random ingredients. "Tomorrow night, since it's a Saturday."

"Tomorrow? Is that really enough time to plan a party?"

"Of course it is!" Kathleen watched her potion begin to smoke dangerously. It was supposed to turn blue, but it was instead red-orange. "Hmm, should I add more of this?" She added the beetle's eyes and the potion changed back to blue. "But yeah, back to the party. We could probably get Rosmerta to tend bar in the common room, if you asked. She fancies you. So what'd ya think?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Ok, great. Tomorrow, then."


	6. Celebrate Good Times

**Celebrate Good Times**

No one seemed to find two sixteen-year olds walking around in Hogsmeade at eleven o'clock in the morning odd, which was good for Sirius and Kathleen. They strolled causally into the Three Broomsticks, immediately spotting young and pretty Rosmerta sitting at the nearly empty bar, looking bored.

"Okay Padfoot, work your magic," whispered Kathleen.

"Gotcha. I'll try not to make her faint."

Kathleen rolled her eyes but followed as Sirius confidently approached the young barmaid. He sat on the stool in front of her and gave his usual greeting. "Hey, Rosy," he said flirtatiously. Rosmerta flushed slightly at the nickname.

"Hey, Sirius. Hi, Kathleen," she said. Kathleen gave a little wave.

"I have a little favor to ask," Sirius continued, his voice dripping with the charm every girl seemed to love.

"You know I'd do almost anything for you. What is it that you want?"

"Kathleen and I, we're hosting this little...'_get together_,' tonight, very exclusive, in the Gryffindor common room, and we were wondering if you'd come serve drinks?"

Rosmerta blushed again. "Well, I suppose so. Mum's given me tonight off."

Sirius smiled. "Okay then. I'll see you tonight, at six. The password is '_Coeur d'un lion_' (heart of a lion)." He winked and the pair walked back outside. "We've got a little time before anyone'll miss us. Do you need to get anything?"

"Let's go to Honeydukes. I'm almost out of the Swiss chocolate my dad got for me."

"What's with you and Remus and chocolate?"

Kathleen just smiled her beautiful grin and shrugged, digging in her bag to find the money she'd brought. They bought the chocolate and a few other sweets for the party, then snuck in the cellar and back to Hogwarts. After they'd stored the candy in the boys' dorm, they went outside, where Audrey, Remus, James and Peter were sitting under an oak tree, relaxing. Kathleen noticed them and began walking over with Sirius.

"So, what do you think of Rem and Auds?" she asked, knowing they were too far away to hear.

"How do you mean?"

"Well it's obvious they like each other, don't you think? See; look at how she leans in like that when she talks to him? And Rem's not even reading, and you know that's odd."

Sirius studied the pair, and the more he looked, he realized that Kathleen was right. "They'd make a good couple, I guess. Moony's only had a few girls."

"Yeah, same for Audrey. Poor Auds, all the guy she fancies are usually drooling all over me."

"That must be horrible for you," said Sirius sarcastically.

"Um, yeah, they're usually gross!"

"What's gross, Kath?" asked Audrey.

"Spinach," Kathleen said quickly. With her 'condition', she'd developed quite the talent for lying.

"You're right, that is disgusting!" Audrey agreed.

"Who else can't wait for the party?" Sirius asked.

"What party?" Remus sat up, looking at his cousin suspiciously.

"What? You think me, innocent little Kathleen, would plan a party?!"

"Yes, I think that sounds precisely like something you'd do."

"Well Remy, if you don't want people to know _tu dormes toujours avec un ours de nounours appelé M. Beary _(you still sleep with a teddy bear named Mr. Beary), you better stop thinking that."

"Kath!" Remus exclaimed, flushing. "I didn't say I didn't _want_ a party. I'm not going to go tell McGonagall or anything. I just meant it sounds like something you'd be planning, you know?"

"Oh. Okay then."

At exactly six o'clock that night, Rosmerta entered the common room, holding several large bags. The Marauders and Audrey were setting up tables by magic and directing a few house elves where to put food.

"Rosy!" Sirius greeted, throwing an arm around her. "There's the bar. James conjured it and the stools." Rosmerta began putting the drinks away, smiling at Sirius. "Everyone should be here soon, we skipped dinner to set up," he explained.

"Oh, aren't you hungry?"

"We have the house elves to feed us," he said quickly. "Hey listen, Rosmerta, I'm really glad you could do this."

"Me too," Rosmerta grinned. Suddenly an upbeat song started playing from the radio Kathleen was fiddling with. "Oh, I love this song! Dance with me, before everyone starts coming in?"

"Sure."

James asked Kathleen to dance as well, leaving Peter, who couldn't dance, Remus, and Audrey.

"So," said Audrey.

"So." Remus put his hands in his pockets. "So, do you... I mean, would you like to... dance?"

"Sure," Audrey said, jumping off the couch.

"Really? With me?"

"Of course, silly, who else?"

Remus was saved from having to answer by students starting to come in. Rosmerta started making drinks, and no one thought to question why there was even a party going on in the first place.

Someone herded the first and second-years upstairs, who complained about never getting to do anything, away from the alcohol.

After a few hours, Kathleen's wispy fringe was sticking to her face, and she went over to the bar. "I'll have an appletini please, easy on the tini," Kathleen told Rosmerta, who smiled and pulled out the vodka.

"Hey, Kath," said Sirius, joining her at the bar. "Just a firewhiskey for me, Rosy."

The barmaid sat down both drinks, and both teens took a sip.

"Mmm. Apple-y," Kathleen joked.

"You always get those, are they any good?"

"Yeah, but I have to be careful and sip slowly. I can only have one before I'm pretty much drunk."

"Ha, lightweight! I can have like, three or four firewhiskeys."

"Hey, I'm short! Size directly affects how much alcohol you can drink."

"Yeah, whatever." Sirius drank all his firewhiskey in one gulp. "Rosy, dear, I need a refill!"

Rosmerta giggled and poured more into his glass. Kathleen took another sip or five, leaving her glass half-way full.

"Let's dance," proposed Sirius.

Against the will of the sober part of her brain, Kathleen downed the rest of her drink. Sirius took her hand, twirling her dramatically. They danced for a while, no matter what the song was. As the alcohol started to affect her, she became a bit clumsy. The room was spinning, and her vision was getting blurry. She bumped into someone and started to fall, but Sirius quickly caught her. Kathleen realized how muscular his arms were, and then that their faces were very close. His breath smelled heavily of firewhiskey, and she suspected the one he'd just had had not been his first of the night.

"Maybe you should sit down." Without waiting on her reply, Sirius carried her over to the couch and sat down with her. "Look at Remus and Audrey," he said. Kathleen saw two Remuses and two Audreys dancing to a slow song.

"Yeah," she slurred, looking up at him. "I want something like that. You know?"

"Yeah." Then he kissed her. Kathleen smiled and pressed her lips against his again.

Meanwhile, Remus and Audrey were still slow-dancing. "This is nice," Audrey told Remus shyly.

"Yeah, I think so. I really like you, Audrey."

"I like you, too, Remus."

"No, I mean I- I _fancy_ you."

Audrey smiled, then decided to be bold for once and kissed him.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" he asked as she pulled away.

Audrey nodded. "Only if you're my boyfriend."

Remus laughed, running his hands through his new girlfriend's hair.

"What new color should I dye my hair, boyfriend?"

"I dunno."

"I was thinking blue to match your eyes."

Remus blushed, realizing just how much he loved Audrey's crazy hair.


	7. Sirius Gets Lucky

**Sirius Gets Lucky**

Earlier that day, Remus had told Lily that he wasn't going to be able to make it for prefect duties. Lily had been a little suspicious, but she trusted Remus so she had asked her friend, Jessica Buckley, the sixth-year prefect from Ravenclaw, to come with her instead. They had been patrolling the halls for a few hours, but so far, they hadn't caught anyone out after curfew.

"Lily," Jessica whined. "It's after two o'clock; _we're_ not even supposed to be out this late."

"Oh, come on, Jess. I just _know_ the Marauders are up to something; Potter was wearing that stupid little grin of his when I saw him in the hallway, and you know what that means."

"Who cares? They're always up to something."

Lily sighed. No one could really understand her abhorrence for James Potter and his stupid hair-messing, quidditch-playing, arrogant-little-boy-who-wouldn't-stop-asking-her-out-because-he-was-a-spoiled-brat-who'd-never-been-told-no lifestyle. "Let's just patrol for another half-hour, and then we can go to bed, okay?"

"Alright," Jessica groaned.

Unbeknownst to Lily and Jessica, Claire Acerbi had been in the bedroom of a Hufflepuff bloke whose surname she didn't know for most of the night, and was now sneaking back to the Gryffindor common room one floor above them. Even though she snuck in almost every night, she had yet to be caught. This was due in part to the fact that she had a lot of tricks to help her keep it that way; one was that she took off her shoes and carried them so her footsteps weren't as loud.

Claire's confidence was wearing off as the adrenaline rush did, and now she just felt horrible. Maybe tomorrow, Sirius or Remus would look at her at lunch, and she wouldn't have to make herself throw up, act so ditzy, or find another guy to sleep with her. If she'd had any real friends, Claire would've talked to them about how badly she was feeling about herself lately, but she only had the little fourth and fifth-years that seemed to worship her. Claire secretly hoped the younger girls wouldn't really follow in her footsteps; that they didn't want to be like her, and they just followed her around because they felt sorry for her. She would not, of course, mention these thoughts to anyone. Not that she really had anyone anymore to mention them to; she'd lost her only real friends a long time ago.

She sighed as she approached the Fat Lady asleep in her portrait. '_The perfect end for a perfect day_,' she thought bitterly, studying the flagstones below her.

"Honestly dear, why are you always coming up here so late? I just got to sleep." Claire looked up at the now awake Fat Lady.

"Sorry. _Coeur d'un lion_," she said, ignoring the Fat Lady's question.

The Fat Lady shook her head and swung open, revealing the common room party in full swing. Claire was pleasantly surprised to find no one noticed she'd only just arrived.

"Claire!" one of her fourth-year minions, Abigail, called out to her. She was sitting on a barstool holding a soda and waving.

"Hey Abby, what's up?"

"This party is awesome! You know I don't drink, but there's an open bar."

Claire grinned, knowing alcohol might help her feel better. She asked the barmaid for anything fruity and strong and downed three drinks quickly, liking how irrational happiness and confidence flowed through her. Rosmerta handed her one more, saying that that was all for her for awhile.

Then she noticed Kathleen a few yards away. Claire scowled. Kathleen Dove was quite possibly the most irritatingly perfect person Claire had ever seen. She was so thin she had to get her jeans specially tailored; Claire knew this because she'd seen her walk out of Gladrags with the bags. She, on the other hand, needed to make herself vomit twice a day in order to fit into the new jeans she'd bought. Kathleen was gorgeous; Claire needed three pounds of make-up to look at all presentable. According to rumor, the Dove family had so much money that they had six homes all over the world, and could've easily bought more. Claire's family was just middle-class. Plus, Kathleen was friends with the Marauders, only the coolest guys in the entire school. They hated Claire.

'_How detestable_,' thought Claire as she watched Kathleen sip an appletini and talk to Sirius, who was standing close and whispering in her ear. She was sure could win his attention, so she grabbed her cocktail and staggered over to the pair.

"Hey, Sirius," she said merrily.

Sirius ignored her, laughing at something Kathleen said.

"Sirius!" she said again to no response. She rolled her eyes. "How come you'd rather talk to that whore than to me?"

Claire realized almost instantly that saying that was a bad idea; it was obvious now that Sirius was rather drunk, and very angry. It seemed like time slowed as he turned to face her. His hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists, and his voice was low and slightly slurred when he spoke. "How _dare _you! You, 'that easy one from Gryffindor,' are calling _Kathleen_ a slut? You'll shag anyone who'll have you, you worthless tramp."

Claire's false confidence was shattered. "I'm sorry, I just wanted... I mean, I didn't mean to say that..." She held up her hands in defeat, forgetting she was still holding a drink and spilling most of it on an also very drunk Kathleen.

"Okay, that's it, _tu vache_ (you cow). This is my favorite shirt!" Kathleen punched Claire in the face before gulping the rest of her drink, then went for the hair.

Sirius' anger dissolved as Kathleen proceeded to beat the shit of out Claire. "Catfight!" he called, not even attempting to break it up. It seemed that every male in the room turned to stare at the girls as fought; pulling hair, scratching and yelling. After a few minutes, Remus managed to pry them apart.

"That bitch made me bleed," Kathleen complained, dropping a fistful of strawberry locks and examining a small cut that was hardly bleeding at all. Abigail was leading Claire, sporting a black eye, quite a few bruises, and a small bald spot to the girls' dorm.

"She ripped your shirt, too" observed Sirius. Kathleen nodded, still breathing heavily. "Let's go upstairs and get you one of mine."

A scream of "What the hell is going on here?" interrupted the pair. Lily Evans had entered the room. "Everyone go to bed!" No one moved; they were all staring at Lily. "_Now_!" Slowly, they all obeyed, including Rosmerta. "Except you five," she added as the Marauders and Kathleen tried to sneak upstairs.

"Remus, is this what you skived off prefect duties for?" Remus nodded and refused to meet her eyes.

Lily scoffed as James came up to her, his hand going automatically to his hair. "What do you want, Potter? I suppose all this was your idea?" She gestured to the mess the partygoers had left, including spilt drinks and forgotten glasses, streamers, glitter, random shoes, and for some reason, a turtle.

"No, it wasn't. I was just going to say I'm sorry for not making sure you knew about the party earlier today."

Lily raised an eyebrow. James had just said something semi-intelligent to her. He'd also been asking her out less lately. Maybe over the summer he'd grown a brain. "That's alright, Potter," she said finally, deciding to be civil. "Anyway, tomorrow you guys are spending the day cleaning this up, but I won't take any points if you just do that. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Okay, good." Lily smiled as the boys turned towards the stairs, but before they could go anywhere, Kathleen collapsed. "Oh my god! Are you okay?"

Sirius practically pushed Peter down the stairs in his efforts to get to her. "What's wrong with her? What did you do?" he demanded, yelling irrationally at Lily.

Remus observed his cousin carefully before concluding that three appletinis were far too many. "Go get Audrey to help carry her upstairs," he told the red-head. "She'll be okay, just give her a bucket to throw up in when she wakes up." Lily nodded and rushed to do as she was told.

Audrey and Lily came back within moments and picked up the girl with ease. "Come on, Kathleen, let's get to bed. It's almost three-thirty," Audrey told her unconscious friend.

Sirius held his throbbing head in his hands. He then decided it might be a good idea for him to get upstairs and get some sleep, too.

* * *

**Review and I'll update after school, twelve hours from now. Merci ****mon ****amis****.**


	8. Vanilla Coffee

**Vanilla Coffee**

When Kathleen woke up the next morning, she immediately longed for the peacefulness of sleep. She felt like she'd been run over by a truck; her head was splitting, her mouth dry, she felt as if she might puke, and the sun was too much bright. To top it all off, she could hardly remember anything from the previous night; namely how she got in her room.

"Morning, sunshine!" Audrey screeched happily. The noise was painful, like nails on a chalkboard.

"Don't talk so loud," Kathleen whined into her pillow.

"Shut up," agreed Claire in her sleep.

"Sorry. Come on, Kath, sit up," Audrey said gently, in much a quieter voice. "I've got something to make you feel better." Kathleen slowly sat up and supported herself against the headboard. She squinted up at her best friend, who was holding a cup of something. "Here." Kathleen took the cup gratefully and took a sip. The liquid tasted strange and numbed her tongue, but it also numbed the pain everywhere else.

"What is this?"

"It's a hangover remedy."

Kathleen wrinkled her nose at the taste, but slowly drank the disgusting liquid anyway. "What happened last night?" she asked curiously, shaking the half-empty cup a little to see if that would make it taste any better.

Audrey smiled. "Remus asked me out."

"Aw, congrats, you two are really cute together." She sipped again.

"You and Sirius made out," Audrey added. Kathleen started choking.

"I'm sorry, _what_?"

"You and Sirius, yeah, but you were both completely smashed. Then he almost beat up Acerbi because she called you a whore, and then you _did _beat her up because she spilt, like, a whole drink on your shirt."

Kathleen smirked, amused at Claire's pain. "Then what happened?"

"Lily came in and broke up the party. And then you passed out, so Lily and I had to carry you up here. And she's making you guys, as in you, Remus, James, Peter and Sirius, clean up from the party."

Kathleen nodded, finishing off the potion. "I'm really tired; is that a side-effect of this hangover stuff?"

"No. It's 7:30 and you only got four hours of sleep last night."

"Oh." She got out of bed and pulled some clothes out of her trunk, dressing in her favorite bellbottoms and bright yellow 'have a nice day' t-shirt. "I'm going to the kitchens for coffee before we start cleaning. Coming with?"

"Nah, I need to work on my Ancient Runes homework." She held up a sheet of un-translated runes.

"Suit yourself," Kathleen shrugged and grabbed her wand, sticking it in her back pocket before heading downstairs and out of the common room. Exhausted, she walked down the corridor slowly. The halls were quiet; no doubt everyone was sleeping in. Suddenly, she was filled with an eerie feeling, like someone was following her.

"Hello?" Unsurprisingly, there was no answer. She shook it off by telling herself that surely fatigue could cause paranoia. Continuing on her way, she began to hum a Beatles song, partly because she liked it and partly in self-assurance that Hogwarts was utterly and completely safe. She'd gotten all the way to the staircase when she got the feeling again. She ignored it and started singing quietly. "_Here comes the sun, do, do, do, do, here comes the sun...and I say...it's alright..._" She was at the second floor and the second chorus when Professor Newman brushed past her, business-like.

"Ben!"

He turned, looking surprised to see her.

"I mean, er, Professor Ben."

"It's fine, Miss Dove, you can call me Ben. Good morning."

"If I call you Ben, you have to call me Kathleen," she said, catching up to him.

"Fair enough," he agreed. "So what did you call me for?"

"Oh, I, uh," she lowered her voice. "_I think someone is following me_. I know that sounds weird, but, can you come to the kitchens with me?"

"Certainly, that's where I was headed anyway. I need..."

"Coffee," they said together. Ben laughed.

"So, I pretty much know nothing about you. What's your favorite subject?"

"Why yours, Ben. I love DADA, it's always been -"

"I'm sorry; I must've phrased that wrong. What's your favorite subject _really_?"

She giggled. "What kind of conversation is this if I can't suck up?"

"How can you suck up if you know nothing about who you're sucking up to, and he knows nothing about you?"

"Touché. I guess my favorite is Charms. I'm really good at it, too. Got an 'O' on my OWL."

"Congrats."

"_Merci._ (Thanks)"

"I've always been rubbish at Charms. Professor Flitwick said that I needed to improve my wand movements, whatever that means."

"I'd take a wild guess and say it means you need to improve the way you're moving your wand."

He grinned.

"What about you? DADA, right?"

"Nope. Mum's making me do the whole teaching thing. My real favorite is Care of Magical Creatures."

"Cool, I'm taking that this year."

"Brill. Say, do I detect an accent? Where are you from?"

"I live just outside of Villefranche de Rouergue, Aveyron, in France.

"Ah, I see. Wait, if you live in France, why don't you go to Beauxbatons?"

Kathleen was always prepared for that question, though she was surprised Ben didn't know the reason, perhaps because he was only an assistant professor. "My cousin and I are really close, and he really wanted to go to Hogwarts," she lied expertly. "I didn't want to be separated from him, so our mothers decided to send us both here."

"Oh, that's sweet of you."

"Yeah, well, were ten," she laughed.

He grinned. "And now, for lack of better topics, I'm forced to ask: what's your family like?"

"Insane. My dad, he's always showing off his gargantuan vocabulary." Ben laughed. Kathleen didn't see the irony and continued. "My mum and Tante Ambre, have the most horrendous English accents anyone's ever heard. My grandma on my dad's side, she lives in America, is a great cook. My aunt Jackie, she's my dad's sister, lives in America too, and she's quite young, and wicked ace. She has a little girl named Evelyn, a.k.a. Evie, she's just the cutest little three-year old; she absolutely _adores _me! And there's Rem, of course. I love him like a brother, and he's one of my best friends."

"What about your mum's side?"

Kathleen frowned. "Nothing, there's nothing to tell." Her voice had an icy edge to it.

"Oh. Well, um, we're here," said Ben awkwardly, tickling the pear.

"Right," Kathleen said coldly, brushing past him.

"Hello Miss!" said a house elf.

"Can you get me a vanilla coffee please, with a lid so I can go?"

"Of course, Miss. Keshet will get it for you right away." Keshet handed her the coffee within moments and she left, leaving Ben very confused at what he'd done to upset her.

"Your little girlfriend didn't mention we had to do all this without magic, Prongs," Sirius was saying when Kathleen entered the still-messy common room. He leaned against the mop he'd been using to clean up something sticky.

James stopped sweeping for a moment to answer, but Lily was faster.

"I am _not _his girlfriend. And I thought it was obvious, Black, this _is_ a punishment." Lily, who Sirius was apparently ignoring, said from the top of the couch where she was watching the boys clean up. "Oh, hey, Kathleen."

Kathleen nodded towards Lily and threw her empty coffee cup in the trash bag Remus was holding. "What's wrong, cuz?" he asked, noticing her dark mood.

"Eh, nothing, Rem, don't worry about it." She noticed the turtle and picked it up. "What the -?"

"Somebody brought him last night, isn't he cool?" Peter exclaimed.

"He's so groovy!"

"Groovy?" asked Sirius.

"My aunt says it," she shrugged. "Oh, Pete, you have glitter in your hair." Peter blushed and looked in a nearby mirror to find Kathleen was certainly not lying.

"Wormtail named him Horace, but I said that's horrid since it's Professor Slughorn's name," James said.

"Hmm, how 'bout Hugo? What do you think, Pete?"

Peter nodded. He was trying to get glitter out of his hair.

After that, cleaning went fast. They were soon done and Lily went to the library. The group sat lazily on the couch.

"Hey, anyone want to go to Gladrags with me and pick up my jeans?"

"Why are your jeans at Gladrags?"

"I have to get them tailored, hemmed up two inches," Kathleen sighed. "Otherwise, they drag the ground and I trip all the time."

"I'll go," volunteered Remus. "I need to get something for Audrey, anyway."

"Cool, then let's go!"

They disappeared upstairs.

"Hey," James yelled, realizing what was going on. "You prats want to ask before you borrow my cloak?"

But the cousins were already gone.


End file.
